RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
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Best of intentions pave way to indifference
MARY CONWAY is disappointed to see a once award-winning comedy lose its spark entirely
ZERO INTERACTION: Lucy Black (Teresa), Laura Rogers (Mary) and Carolina Main (Catherine)
[Helen Murray]
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
The Memory of Water
Hampstead Theatre
★★
SHELAGH STEPHENSON’S The Memory of Water at Hampstead Theatre is a prime example of how time changes everything.
In the year 2000, this play won an Olivier Award for best new comedy and was subsequently adapted for a film (Before You Go) starring Julie Walters. Now it seems less notable for its crowd-pleasing content than for a creaky storyline, laboured attempts at comedy and a range of under-developed and almost indistinguishable characters.
Not that I blame artistic director, Roxana Silbert, for selecting it. It must have seemed like a safe revival at a time when current themes are so dispiriting. But the result, despite huge commitment from director Alice Hamilton, cast and crew, is a listless affair, addressing too many inconclusive themes while seeming to grab at arbitrary cultural references that never take us to moments of genuine insight.
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